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Fermentation Atlas

Cheese from Sierra de Jalmich

Cotija (queso Cotija de montaña)queso Cotija

Raw milk from grazing cows is set with rennet at about 30–32 °C, drained in cloth sacks, crumbled with salt by hand and pressed for one to three days. With no starter added, the wheels ripen at room temperature on cane shelves for at least three months, often more than a year. It is made only in the rainy season, July to October. Made in 6 steps over 3 months – 3.1 months. The longest step, ripen on cane shelves, takes at least 3 months (Parguel P 2011). Leuconostoc mesenteroides (dominant), with Lactobacillus, Weissella, Aerococcus, Enterococcus and Carnobacterium inside the cheese and Yeasts Candida etchellsii, Pichia kudriavzevii and Moniliella suaveolens in the paste do most of the fermenting.

Key numbers
Main stepat least 3 monthsReported[fao-cotija][estrada2024]Ripen on cane shelves
Temperature30–32 °CReported[fao-cotija]Let the raw milk rest and cool
Fully documentedCheese3 months – 3.1 monthsMexican collective mark (IMPI); Mexican standard NMX-F-735-COFOCALEC-2018More other cheesesMore from Mexico

Recipe

Amounts from a sourceMakers do not measure; the salt figure is what they reported to an FAO mission. Milk, salt and rennet are the only ingredients.
Raw whole cow milk · Used soon after milking, filtered through cloth; never heated or chilled[fao-cotija][estrada2024]
Rennet · Makers judge the dose by experience[fao-cotija]
About 9 g per litre of milkSalt · Coarse or fine; the amount makers reported; the mission advised 9 g per kg of curd[fao-cotija]
Starternone added; the raw-milk flora ferments the cheese

Total time across the recorded steps: 3 months – 3.1 months

Start
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30–32 °C

What changes: Starting material: filtered raw milk cooling in pails after milking

Step 1 of 6
Let the raw milk rest and cool
Time
3 h
Reported
Temperature
30–32 °C
Reported
Salt
None given
Acidity
Not documented
Which microbes the steps name, step by step
L. mesenteroides
Lactobacillus
Weissella
Enterococcus
Leuconostoc

Output: filtered raw milk.

Flavour
Not documented
Texture
Not documented
Colour
white

Microbes at work in this step

native raw-milk flora

Method

Measured measured in a studySet fixed by a specification or tested recipeReported one source reports itTypical a general value, not sourced for this fermentUnconfirmed not yet checked against a source

What makes this one different

Mountain Cotija is made only from raw milk in the rainy season, with no starter culture, no heating and no cooling. The curd is salted by hand and pressed in bands, then ripened at room temperature for months.

Milk
Raw whole cow milk from grazing cows, made only July to October
Ripening
At least 3 months at room temperature
Size
About 35 cm across, 18–22 cm high, about 20 kg; up to 30 kg

Related ferments

Variants

  • Queso de tajo (cremoso)Creamy, sliceable texture.
  • Queso desmoronable (medio tajo)Granular and crumbly.
  • US commercial queso cotijaDid not support Listeria growth in one study, with water activity 0.92 and pH 5.32.

Safety

The milk is raw. In a challenge test, ripening inhibited Listeria within 15–30 days and Salmonella and S. aureus within 30–45 days, with no staphylococcal toxin found; the FAO mission asked for at least 3 months of ripening before sale.

Hazards the sources name: Salmonella and Staphylococcus aureus DNA in some market cheeses, from non-viable cells; no Listeria monocytogenes, Brucella or pathogenic Escherichia coli DNA in 95 samples; Listeria monocytogenes added to the milk in a challenge test was inhibited between days 15 and 30 of ripening.

History and sources

Every number is labelled with how it is known. How this atlas is made

Its traditional making is said to date back to the arrival of the Spaniards in Mexico.

  1. [fao-cotija] Parguel P., Monterrubio López R., Quiñones Ramírez E.I., Reyes Arreguín B.R. 2011, Informe de la misión IPN-COFOCALEC-FAO sobre el Queso Cotija, FAO, Mexicogov
  2. [estrada2024] Estrada-Hernández C.A., Becerra-Cedillo M.B., Hernández Velázquez I.A. et al., Quirasco M. 2024, Microbiological evaluation of two Mexican artisanal cheeses, analysis of foodborne pathogenic bacteria in Cotija cheese and Bola de Ocosingo cheese by qPCR, Foods 13:2824, doi:10.3390/foods13172824paper
  3. [chombo2016] Chombo-Morales P., Kirchmayr M., Gschaedler A., Lugo-Cervantes E., Villanueva-Rodríguez S. 2016, Effects of controlling ripening conditions on the dynamics of the native microbial population of Mexican artisanal Cotija cheese assessed by PCR-DGGE, LWT 65:1153–1161, doi:10.1016/j.lwt.2015.09.044paper
  4. [andersen2025] Andersen Z., Kilgore S., Waite-Cusic J., Kovacevic J. 2025, Behavior of Listeria monocytogenes in commercial queso fresco and queso cotija and investigation of salt concentration as a control factor, Journal of Dairy Science, doi:10.3168/jds.2025-26959paper